


great day for flying

by SyverneSien



Series: assorted dragon!mumbo fics [2]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Bird/Human Hybrids, Dragon Hybrids, Dragon!Mumbo, Flying, Friendship, Gen, Hybrids, Mumbo is a bit of a show-off, No Romance, One Shot, Parrot!Grian, Season/Series 07, Short One Shot, Winged Charles | Grian, dragon!mumbo my beloved, possibly sequel at some point??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:41:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29314275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SyverneSien/pseuds/SyverneSien
Summary: Mumbo's struggling with his recently-acquired wings. Grian offers to show him how to fly.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Oliver Brotherhood & Charles | Grian
Series: assorted dragon!mumbo fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2153088
Comments: 6
Kudos: 112





	great day for flying

“So how did you end up like this, again?” Grian asks, eyes flitting over Mumbo’s new, strange appearance. Grian’s used to hybridism--he’s been living for a long time with the colourful wings of a parrot, and before seeing Mumbo, he’d considered his five-foot wingspan rather impressive.

But Mumbo’s not only towering over him at a height of what must be over seven feet tall at this point, but his wingspan is at least double Grian’s, with the additions of dark horns curling out behind his ears, uncannily purple eyes, unusually sharp canines, and a long, thin tail. Grian usually views himself as simply a human with wings; Mumbo is one hundred percent a hybrid. And he’s seeming rather annoyed at Grian’s enthusiastic studying of his looks.

Mumbo snaps one wing around from Grian’s hand and Grian swears he hears his friend growl. “Does it matter?” he counters half-heartedly. Then he pauses, before asking, “Were  _ your _ wings this itchy when they grew in?”

“You can’t refuse to answer my questions and then ask me your own,” Grian protests, folding his arms over his chest with a huff. “But yeah, they were itchy. And I was moulting everywhere.”

Mumbo just stares at him for a few moments, then sighs. “I’ve always been like this, Grian. But apparently it took a lot longer for me than for you.”

“And now you’ve got wings!” Grian grabs Mumbo’s wing again and Mumbo stumbles back a bit, flailing his new limbs wildly. “I can’t believe you never told me. It’s so nice to not be the only one!” Grian beams at his friend and Mumbo smiles awkwardly.

“Look, I… I didn’t know if I would ever grow wings or if I would just stay a regular human, and I didn’t want to get your hopes up,” Mumbo admits. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Grian insists. “You letting me teach you how to fly makes up for it.” That’s why they’re here, on the very top of Mumbo’s base. It’s the perfect place to fly--enough places to land and take off, but no pesky vines or leaves getting in the way. Grian’s flown around it enough times to know.

“Right.” Mumbo takes a step towards the edge, then hops back. “Oh God,” he squeaks. “I hate being up this high without an elytra.”

Grian takes in the fear in Mumbo’s purple eyes and asks tentatively, “Mumbo, are you scared of heights?”

“No!” Mumbo objects. Then he scratches his head sheepishly. “Er… well, I used to be scared of  _ falling _ , but I got over it when we discovered elytra.”

Grian looks at him sympathetically. “Well, now you’ll never have to worry about falling...” he tells his friend, “...once you learn how to use those wings of yours.”

“They’re heavy,” Mumbo complains. “Are you sure I can actually fly with them?”

Grian catches Mumbo by the arm. “No backing out now, Mumbo! I’ll push you off if I have to!” Then, as he watches Mumbo’s face turn ghostly white, he stammers, “N-no, I won’t actually, Mumbo, that was a joke.” Grian hesitates. “I was really nervous my first time flying, too. But I promise it’s even better than gliding with elytra.”

“Really?” Mumbo’s face lights up a bit.

_ “Way _ better.” Grian hasn’t used elytra in years. “But we’re still going to start with gliding down to one of the wrenches, so that you can get used to using wings instead of elytra.”

Mumbo nods slowly. “Okay.”

“I’ll go first.” His brow furrows in concern for his friend. “You  _ can _ back out if you really want to, dude.”

“No, no.” Mumbo gulps, then steels his expression. “I’m good.”

“Alright.” Grian bumps his wing against Mumbo’s encouragingly. “Do you want me to go first or do you want to go at the same time?”

“You go first,” Mumbo says, nudging Grian with his foot. “I’ll do what you do.”

Grian looks at his moustachioed friend, then nods. He turns towards the edge and finds the huge concrete wrench he intends to fly down to with his eyes. Grian spreads his wings, glances back at Mumbo (who gives him a thumbs-up), then leaps.

His wings catch the wind easily and he kicks his feet out, dipping into a dive towards the ledge he’s aiming for. Grian doesn’t even have to flap his wings once--gravity and the wind are enough to carry him down. He swings his legs back out in front of him, bending his knees as he hits the concrete, and he thrusts his wings out to stop him completely in his tracks. Then Grian turns, grinning, and looks back up at the dark shape on top of the tower that is Mumbo.

It takes Mumbo a few long moments to jump, but he does, and Grian cheers loudly. He seems to struggle a bit more than Grian had, being buffeted around by the wind, but he ends up on-course towards the ledge. Grian’s sure he’ll land without any hitches--it’s not very different from landing with elytra--but when Mumbo touches down, he promptly slips and falls onto his backside.

Grian bursts out laughing and helps Mumbo up. “Nice gliding, man!” he says, genuine, but Mumbo still looks disgruntled.

“That… that wasn’t too hard,” Mumbo says. “These are just… way bigger than elytra.” He takes a deep breath. “And now do we fly back up?”

“Do you think you’re ready for that?” Grian doesn’t know--there’s only so much he remembers from learning to fly, and most of  _ his _ training involved falling off of things and panicking. “I was thinking we fly to the next one over.”

“Okay. Okay, yeah, that sounds alright,” Mumbo replies. “Er… how, exactly?”

“Well, how would you get over there with an elytra?” Grian asks, wanting to let Mumbo figure it out and see if that helps him be more confident.

Mumbo hesitates for a moment. “Jump off, glide down a bit, then set off a firework and get back up and hope I don’t smack into the side?”

“Yeah, exactly,” Grian says, “but you’re going to flap your wings instead of using a firework. It’s actually a lot easier to not crash--you can control how much force you’re using instead of relying on the same fireworks every time.”

Mumbo’s face scrunches up in concentration. “Got it,” he responds. “I’ll follow you.”

Grian doesn’t hesitate as much before he jumps off this time, more reassured by his friend. He swooped down with his wings tucked in, then spread his wings out and flapped a few times, catching the wind and landing neatly on the next wrench over.

He looks back and is surprised to see Mumbo close behind--too close, in fact, and he can’t get out of the way fast enough, which leads to Mumbo knocking him to the ground. “Ah! Get off!” Grian cries, though he was giggling profusely. “You spoon, you’re not supposed to follow  _ that _ quickly.”

Mumbo laughs and flops off of Grian, landing on his back. “The wind tripped me up,” he explains, wheezing and winded.

They laugh until the comedy dies out, then Grian gets up. “I think we should keep going around the wrenches until you can land on your feet,” he says teasingly. 

Mumbo agrees, and they spend another half-hour flying back and forth between wrenches and across the octagon, until they both think Mumbo’s gotten the hang of it.

“And now we go up!” Grian declares, stepping to the edge. “Ready?” He looks at his friend, who nods.

They leap at the same time, and Grian quickly finds an updraft to follow. He spreads his wings and lets it carry him up, but is surprised when Mumbo zooms over him towards the top of the tower. “Hey! No fair!” Grian calls, beating his wings as hard as he can but still ending up behind Mumbo.

Mumbo looks back at him and grins, not only reaching the top before Grian but doing an extra loop around the point as if he were boasting. He lands heavily on his feet in front of Grian and straightens up, pride in his eyes. “You really are right,” Mumbo says. “This is  _ way _ better than elytra.”

“You’re showing off,” Grian complains. “It’s not a contest, Mumbo. You’re supposed to be  _ learning.” _

“Thanks for helping me out, Grian,” Mumbo says, before grinning cheekily. “It’s not my fault my wings are bigger than yours.”

“Try boasting when you’re flying through the jungle and those giant wings get caught in all the vines every five seconds,” Grian replies, sticking his tongue out. “Or when you try to go into a store and whack them on the doorway.”

Mumbo shrugs. “Eh, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. For now…” he leans forward, “...I totally beat you.”

“It wasn’t a race!” Grian protests. “If you want a race, I’ll  _ show _ you a race. With a proper judge and course and everything.”

“Thirty-two diamonds entry fee, winner gets the whole stack?” Mumbo raises an eyebrow.

Without thinking twice, Grian agrees. “Deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> another quick fic, whoop-di-doo  
> dragon!mumbo lives rent-free in my brain i apologize lol


End file.
